The recently released Halo: The Master Chief Collection includes Halo 2: Anniversary, the franchise that is totally remastered version of Halo 2. In addition to the amazing visuals, updated textures and frame rates, 343 Industries has redone the entire soundtrack, with remastered and new songs to bring Halo 2: Anniversary up to a higher level.

The music team – consisting of Paul Lipson, Lennie Moore, Tom Salta, Brian Trifon, and Brian White – has worked on Halo games in the past, and took that experience and love of the series into the process of updating Halo 2’s soundtrack for a new generation of gaming.

“This is very beloved, iconic music, so we spent a long time in preproduction, crafting a plan that we felt honored the original material, but moved things forward both creatively and qualitatively,” Lipson said.

“This was probably our biggest challenge and balancing act, creating what we came to refer to as a ‘celebration and innovation.’ We wanted to make the ultimate love letter to our fans and to the game, so getting deep into the details made all the difference.”

So how does one go about recreating one of the most iconic and well-loved game soundtracks of all time? Note. By. Note.

The team spent two months transcribing the score, listening to every song, and writing the notes down by hand. Laborious? Sure, but Lipson and team used the challenge to their advantage.